Anyhow, I'd been running S&T 2010 on a Windows XP virtual machine (via VMWare Fusion) on my Mac mini with no issues... didn't use S&T often enough to justify an upgrade to a newer version yet.

With Microsoft poised to pull the plug on XP a year from now and their big push to foist the boondoggle that is Windows 8 on the masses, I figure I'd better hop to it and grab a copy of Windows 7 Pro before it's too late.

I figured that my Mac mini should be up to the task of running a Windows 7 virtual machine - after all, I have four GIGABYTES of RAM in it, right? Well, I have to admit that I had to pick up my jaw from the floor when I fired up the activity monitor to see the free RAM count had dropped down to about 12 megabytes

The machine (not the virtual PC, the WHOLE Mac) even freezes solid for the first 10-20 seconds after logging into the virtual Windows installation.

So... just wanted to a bit and then to see what other options there would be for Mac users (BESIDES RouteBuddy which is still as useless as ever).

Crossover Mac is out as an option because it ALWAYS chokes on the text to speech feature portion of S&T during the creation of a "bottle".

(I STILL THINK S&T SHOULD BE PORTED TO THE MAC PLATFORM)

Boyd

I use a Macbook Air as my primary machine, although I have a Windows desktop and tablet as well. Just the other day I did a little googling around to see if there were any new Mac navigation programs so I could play with my Garmin GLO on the MacBook Air. I didn't see a thing.

I'm afraid Windows is needed, and for that matter there aren't many options left on Windows either. I am using Mobile PC but it's discontinued and there are only a few copies of the hardware version selling on eBay. Seems like CoPilot is the most up to date Windows program, but $100 strikes me as very expensive unless you really need it for business purposes.

I suppose there's also DeLorme Street Atlas but the user interface looks very awkward to me. I am using a tablet however and want something that works well with fingers. I hate to say it, but you would probably be better off with an iPad or Android tablet. More options there and the prices are more reasonable.

LineChaser

I already have an iPad (should get it back from the shop tomorrow - fumbled it recently and it did the 'buttered toast' thing onto the floor with a number of fine cracks across the glass resulting). Mainly interested in something I can export my S&T files to for reference. I already took a look at Google Earth but it's NOT my cup of tea.

malaki86

I had an ipad for a short time (not my cup of tea) and ran CoPilot on it. It worked great. You can't import your S & T files, but you can import your own poi's, even though they say you can't (I did it). The best thing about CoPilot is that the maps are stored local, so you don't have to have a constant internet connection like with Google maps.

I have S&T 2009 and never liked it. As I posted in the thread about the GLO, I reinstalled it on my Windows tablet the other day so I could give it another try. But it couldn't handle the higher data rate of the GLO and crashed. Yesterday I uninstalled it again and am sure I will never use it again.

The user interface is just about impossible on a tablet, with tiny menus that require a stylus to use. Is the new version any better?

LineChaser

What about running Windows CE (now Embedded Compact)? Has anyone managed to run one in a virtual machine environment?

Boyd

Why would you want to run Win CE on a Mac? I have a few Win CE devices (Magellan, HP) and it's a very stripped down version of Windows Mobile. I've run OziExplorer CE and it's OK, but pretty limited. Is there some specific Windows CE software you want?

I think you would have better options running the full version of Windows under Bootcamp or Parallels.

LineChaser

Well, like I said, the Windows 7 virtual machine is such a resource hog, I had been wondering if it would be feasible to use Windows CE instead since the only reason I still need Windows is to run S&T.

I guess I'll just have to keep the Windows 7 VM (using VMWare, btw) and just live with the near-total consumption of RAM (in spite of having the maximum 4GB of installed RAM) and the Mac freezing up completely during bootup and shutdown of Windows 7.

Boyd

Windows CE is not the same operating system as Windows and it can't run Streets and Trips or other standard Windows programs. It can only run software written specifically for Windows CE. It's a very limited OS designed for little consumer devices with small amounts of memory and slow processors.

LineChaser

Oh. hm. Good to know. :-|

Boyd

Quote:

Originally Posted by LineChaser

So... just wanted to a bit and then to see what other options there would be for Mac users

Just a quick bump to this old thread for anyone who still might be interested in native Macintosh GPS software. See this thread on CompeGPS Land, I was able to get it working on my MacBook Air.